Whether you’re about to launch a new web or mobile product, a careful, thought-out approach is what you should stand for.

Interactive prototyping can be compared to the architectural simulation, which is performed long before the outset. The whole process of introducing the new web solution for the market (from idea creation to product development and promotion) is much the same house-building: as well as the architectural simulation is performed long before the outset, creating an interactive prototype should be completed long before the main part — product’s designing, programming, and testing.

Some of the online entrepreneurs may wonder why prototyping is so necessary for their business. The answer is simple: the main goal of this process is to minimize product development risks.

The most common problems related to bringing a new web or mobile product to the market include:

Heavy time and money expenditures.

Communication failure between the developers and the client.

Blurred requirements causing reworks over and over again.

No customer’s opinion taken into account, so the product can’t find its marketing niche.

It’s hard to present your idea to investors without visualization

Bugs, errors, and breakdowns found out on the development stage.

Key milestones to minimize product development risks on the early stage:

1. Idea and requirements briefing.

Formalize all the ideas and requirements. Define the “great mission” of your project, decide which customers’ problems it’s going to solve, which unique features it will offer.

2. Analysis.

The concept analysis includes not only evaluating the prospects of the market, but also the target audience defining, and inspecting the practices and methods your potential competitors use to win the market.

3. Goals & features definition.

The project’s future structure directly depends on the goals it’s about to achieve. For example, if you aim to increase your business visibility, the website or app should be equipped with wide social sharing opportunities. If you’re planning to launch an online store, various payment systems integration may be needed.

4. Creating the first mockup.

In paper or electronic format, the basic mockup is a carcass for the future prototype. The team of highly-skilled experts spends hours brainstorming and debating to find the ultimate solution for you.

5. Behavior scenario & mind mapping.

Playing the behavior scenario helps to check if the possible user’s actions can be performed correctly. It’s the way to evaluate project’s usability, find and expel possible logical mistakes. Mind mapping, in its turn, helps the developer to assort and organize key features into a coherent project, to make the app/website’s structure light and sharp.

6. Designing a prototype.

This is the final point, when the best practices from previous stages are formed into an interactive prototype, perfectly corresponding to your business needs and requirements.

The following website & mobile app prototypes, presented by AMgrade, can be applied to several different business fields:

Those are just sample prototypes which, however, allow to see how a new project will look like in a web browser, even before it's been designed and coded.

This month, we are helping online entreprenuers to make their first steps and giving them out prototypes for free. We encourage you to write as a message to media@amgrade.com with details regarding your project. Feedback is welcome as well!